This invention relates to solid state structures and to nanotechnology, and more particularly relates to dimensional control of solid state structures composed of two or more materials, and to the application of such structures as probes.
Precise dimensional control of solid state structural features is essential for many applications in fields ranging from biology and chemistry to physics, optics, and microelectronics. The term “solid state” is here meant to refer to non-biological materials generally. Frequently the successful fabrication of a solid state system critically depends on an ability to articulate specific structural features, often of miniature dimensions, within very tight tolerances. Accordingly, as solid state systems evolve to the micro-regime and further to the nano-regime, nanometric dimensional feature control is increasingly a primary concern for system feasibility.
There have been established a wide range of microfabrication techniques for producing and controlling structural feature dimensions in micromechanical and microelectromechanical systems. For example, high resolution lithographic techniques and high-precision additive and subtractive material processing techniques have been proposed to enable small-scale feature fabrication. But in the fabrication of many nano-regime systems, in which structural feature dimensions of a few nanometers are of importance, it is generally found that conventionally-proposed techniques often cannot form the requisite nano-scale features reproducibly or predictably, and often cannot be controlled on a time scale commensurate with production of such nano-scale features. As a result, volume manufacture of many systems that include nanometric feature dimensions and/or tolerances is not practical or economical.
Recently, a molecular probe device made from biological materials, referred to as a proteinaceous nanopore, has been developed for use as a molecular probe. While the diameters of the pores of this device reach the extremely low (appox. 1 nm) dimensions required for molecular probing, the device suffers many deficiencies due mainly to the fact that it is made from biological material. Among these deficiencies is the lack of robustness to mechanical manipulation and temperature variation, and the lack of flexibility in terms of pore size. Owing to the increased importance of molecular probing applications such as DNA sequencing, what is needed is a more robust, reliable, and adjustable molecular probe that can perform rapid molecular probing/detection. Such a device would reduce the time and effort required for probing in general, and DNA sequencing in particular, and would represent a highly significant advance in biotechnology.